Teacher at heart

Dr. Paula Ann Hughes, director of the Texas Woman’s University School of Management, is shown Thursday inside Hubbard Hall at Texas Woman’s University. Hughes is retiring at the end of this semester after 45 years in higher education.

Hughes has spent 45 years passing on her knowledge

Paula Ann
Hughes recognized from an early age that going to college and receiving a
college degree was the quickest way to make sure people achieve their goals.

Hughes
said she believes she’s always been a teacher at heart and has dedicated 45
years of her life to passing on her desire for learning to her students.

Hughes
plans to retire from teaching at the end of the spring semester.

She said
she’s had a full career, but she said she will continue contributing to
teaching as much as she can.

“There
are so many people who I’ve met and they kind of stick with you,” she said.

Hughes
started her career in education in 1968 at the University of North Texas as an
instructor in the College of Business.

“Oh, that
was a lifetime ago,” she said with a laugh.

In 1982,
she became the dean for the graduate school of management at the University of
Dallas, and from 1996 until 2001, Hughes was the dean and a professor of
management at Texas Woman’s University.

And in
2004, she became director at Texas Woman’s University’s School of Management.

At TWU,
Hughes jump-started the Executive Master of Business Administration program,
which is a 15-month accelerated course designed for working professionals whose
schedules allow for little flexibility.

“I
decided to start the program because I started thinking about the students of
today and the responsibilities they have, which doesn’t leave them much time to
do what they want to accomplish,” she said.

TWU has
locations in Plano, Fort Worth and Houston that also offer the program.

“We
wanted to go where the students were instead of them coming to us because most
of them are working professionals,” she said. “It’s easier for them if we can
be closer to them.”

Hughes is
credited with getting the program off the ground, according to alumni and
current students.

The first
class in 2002 had about 80 students.

“We were
shooting for at least 40, so our first year got off to a good start,” Hughes
said.

Today the
program has 1,857 students.

“It has
really grown. And not just the number of students, but also the quality,” she
said. “We have people who are entrepreneurs, inventors, owners of retail
companies and even school teachers.”

One story
Hughes said tugs on her heartstrings is about a former student who was a
homeless single mother living in her car with her son.

The
mother hit a rough patch in her life and struggled to support her son and
herself, Hughes said.

“We were able
to help her get through school, get an apartment, and now she’s married with a
wonderful husband,” she said. “It’s the stories like these that tell me that I
did OK.”

Hughes
holds a doctorate in management and a Master of Business in management from UNT
and a Bachelor of Science in merchandising from TWU.

She
credits her mother and father for pushing her to achieve academic success.

“My
mother didn’t go to school because she was busy putting her four brothers
through school,” Hughes said. “My mother was very smart. She and my father
didn’t get a chance to go to college, but they motivated me all my life.”

In 2003,
Hughes’ mother, Allie Clark, died.

“She was
a brilliant woman,” Hughes said.

To honor
her mother, Hughes established the Alice Collier Clark Scholarship. Hughes
established the scholarship during the same year the first EMBA class
graduated.

“It
seemed like the perfect thing to do,” she said.

Now,
students in the EMBA program are also working on establishing an endowment in
Hughes’ name. The students are also part of a committee that plans a gala each
year to honor the graduating class and to raise money for scholarships.

“I was
excited and also humbled when I heard what they were trying to do,” Hughes
said. “It was definitely a surprise.”

Committee
members said the endowment will honor Hughes’ contributions to the program and
her continued support of graduate-level education. Committee members said they
hope to raise about $10,000.

The
annual gala was Saturday in Arlington at baseball’s Texas Rangers Hall of Fame.
The event included a silent auction, a dinner and a tour of the baseball
stadium.

“[Hughes]
has helped a lot of students,” said Nathan Abato, a business administration
student and a committee member.

Abato
said he believes Hughes’ passion for teaching stemmed from her mother.

“I think
she wanted to give students that opportunity her mother didn’t have,” he said.

In 2012,
Hughes was honored by TWU with the Cornaro Award, which recognizes excellence
in teaching, scholarships and the advancement of learning, according to
officials.

The award
is named after Elena Lucrezia Cornaro Piscopia, who in 1678 was the first woman
to receive a doctoral degree.

It is the
highest honor paid to a senior faculty member at TWU.

During
her 40 years of teaching, Hughes said her life has been defined by her desire
to learn, which she hopes her students will pay forward.

She added
that her experiences in teaching made her more compassionate, caring and aware
of the need for higher learning.

“The most
important thing I wanted to do when I set out to teach was transform lives, but
when I sit back and think about it, it was the students who transformed me more
than anything,” she said.

JOHN D. HARDEN can be reached at 940-566-6882
and via Twitter at @JDHarden.

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